How to help a child read who has no interest at all

[littlemiss06]

Her words to me on her first day back when we recieved the letters home saying they needed to do 20 minutes per day was why do i have to read, i hate it, i cant do it.

Shes in yr 2 and on red band books varying from stage 1+ to stage 2, she will be 7 in april and weve been on these book for over 12 months and just dont seem to be getting very far.

She can read some cvc words the ones she can sound out but things like was etc she cant read, she failed her phonics test last year with only 14 out of 40.

We read every single night but what can you do when it just doesnt 'click'
Anyone elses been on this stage at this time of school and done ok?

Right what you need to do is find what she wants to read as well as showing her that reading is fun. Spend time each day sharing books together and really enjoying that special time. What is she interested in? Get to the library and find books she wants to look at, school reading books can be boring. Maybe do some baking together from a kids cook book or get a good joke book that will show her reading has a purpose. I suppose what I am trying to say is you need to get her to see reading in a positive way, that may take a bit of time but you'll get there. When you read to her make sure you are in a quiet space and point to the words as you read.

Thank you so much oddslippers thats great, ill have a try with her and see what we can do to improve her reading. She loves football so that might be a good place to start :)

What additional support is the school providing for phonics?

I had a child enter my Y2 class last year unable to read pink level books and she left reading turquoise band ... so it can be done.

Have you spoken to her teachers about any extra support they can give her during school time? It sounds as if plugging away for 20min a day isn't getting you very far. Agree she needs to be enjoying it, but at that age stage 2 books are quite boring for them. It sounds as if she is having some specific problems with the decoding which need some investigating.

Thats great to hear Mrz im really hopeful, shes always been in lower ability for everything. as far as im aware or at least noone has told me anything different, there is no extra support, she just has her guided reading group which has about 4 other children in a lower ability like my daughter and the reading i do at home with her every evening.

Definitely get some football training guides/skills books read a little bit then get outside to have a go. how about getting a top trumps set of her favourite team, then reading becomes part of playing, again good fun. It's easy to feel frustrated when kids aren't getting something and sometimes you need to relax and release the pressure on you and her.

3duracellbunnies I asked on and on all year last year about her work as she seemed so behind and they did say it could just be her age, I think theres a lot more too it but I do think this year school will either agree with me or she will suddenly come on in leaps and bounds

I have two reluctant readers, 7 & 8. They are getting better and I found Oxford Reading tree free ebooks (250) helped. I switch the sound off so they do the reading. Getting the youngest to complete his classwork however is another story. The teacher came to tell me while I was parked outside the school. That he didn't feel like doing his work today! She also brought another childs work to compare. How can I get him to do his work when I am not present??

I'm afraid reading isn't fun if you struggle no matter how interesting the subject of the book and a child with a score of 14/40 is going to really struggle.
Yes enjoying stories together is important but it isn't going to have a huge impact on her ability to read independently.

What do you read at night? Is that the school books?

I have three older ones who would sit with their heads in books for hours but shes just so different, I do think she has special needs, I will try anything and everything with her but shes very stubborn and what she doesnt want to do she simply wont do.

Try www.readingeggs.co.uk. You can set up a free trial. My dd loves the games and is doing well on it.

The point of the Y1 phonics check was to identify children like your daughter who need extra support.
The guidance says

What happens if a child does not meet the standard?

<span class="italic">The screening check will identify children who have phonic decoding skills below the level expected for the end of Year 1 and who therefore need extra help. <strong>Schools will be expected to provide extra help</strong> and children will then be able to re-take the assessment in Year 2.</span>

your daughter's school is failing to provide that support!

The child in my class progressed because she got daily support in school (I provided 30 mins before school started every day and 10 mins working on Bear Necessities 1-1 every lunchtime). She worked very hard but it was wonderful to see her confidence grow day by day.

Maybe this would be something i could do with her mrz

It must feel wretched for your little girl to be reading a reception level when some of her friends may well be free readers. Prehaps having her reading the school reading scheme is depressing for her.

What has the school put in place to help her with her reading. It does sound as if your daughter might be dyslexic. Contrary to popular belief learning to read is not a high intelligence activity. It must be frustrating for a bright little girl to struggle with something that everyone finds simple.

Prehaps working through something like Dancing bears everyday would be more constructive for her than the school reading scheme.

www.prometheantrust.org/soundfoundationsbooks.htm

Maybe you should have a meeting with the SENCO on how you should best support your little girl at home.

Read books to her at her intellectual level, and/or try audio books.

Read a page of her school reader, then let her read the next page to you. Or even, if it's a really bad night, read a page, and let her read it back to you.

While understanding of phonics is the most important part of learning to read, actual enjoyment of reading is also very important. Sounding out every second word will slow down the flow of the story so as to make it meaningless. It becomes a chore, not something to enjoy.

If she struggles on a word, say it to her, and let her move on. Then, go back to it at the end of the book, or session, for practise at sounding it out.

DS was always being given books he hated from school. I started buying Usborne Beginners for him, which are small non fiction books, about almost every subject you can think of. (We initially got some from the library.) He amazed me at his ability to read about something he was interested in.

He difficulties with reading may well be what's put her in lower ability for everything. How can you do a maths sheet if you can't read it? And obviously humanities subjects are all about reading and writing. Ditto much of science, at this stage. Even in art and DT, they have to write about method etc.

Is her verbal ability far in advance of her written ability? Perhaps have her tested by an Ed Psych. If she is dyslexic, it could be helpful for her to understand that she has a physiological problem (in the way that poor eyesight is a physiological problem) and that she's not actually unintelligent (which is probably how she feels right now, with her friends zooming past her).

Shes under camhs for problems which would account to why shes like this but obviously until we get answers the support is limited. Verbally yes she is very much higher ability than what she can get down on paper

Unfortunately reading independently is never going to be enjoyable if you find it a constant struggle. Do you choose to do things you find very difficult for pleasure? I only do them when absolutely necessary and never from choice and it certainly isn't a nice experience.
Read to her so she sees books are fun, exciting, interesting, enjoyable but at the same time she needs to develop the skills needed to read herself.

Mrz out of interest and not necessarily in conjunction with this thread, what are your views on paired reading? Don't want to start a big debate just interested in a teachers view point, thanks

I think paired reading works well for some children but can be very frustrating for a child who is struggling badly (especially one who has struggled for over two years in school)

If it was my child I'd start again from scratch by writing three letter words on pieces of paper and spreading them on the living room floor and getting her to retrieve each word as I called it out. (This is how I taught my daughter to read.)

First with poo, moo, coo, wee, tee, hee (and so on) and when she could identify those we started slowly with real words. (I taught her the oo and ee sounds first, she'd already learned all the letter sounds and names in nursery, (or from me with fridge magnets)or both)

And over about six months, slowly introducing and, if, but and so on so that it became/becomes possible to make simple sentences. With sentences came fun and silliness in our case

I ate the door.
Jenny ate the cat,

and so on and so on. We had lots of fun.

Just to give you some reassurance, some children are not taught to read until they are about your daughter's age or a bit older, so there is still time. I am thinking of my niece in Sweden who can't read (in English or Swedish), but noone is worried about as expectations are different over there. She is 7 in March.

So..... yes, you do need extra support from school, as yes, she is in the UK and expectations are different, but they need to start again with her on phonics and blending. With this extra support from them, and from you at home she should start reading, fingers crossed.

really important to read out loud to her, and she is old enough to listen to a really good story in a chapter book, not just picture books.

I think if she hasn't moved for 12 months I would ask the school what their plan is to move her on,and how you can help. Don't let school give you a 'she's fine' answer, she isn't making progress and she needs a fresh approach. Our school will intervene if child hasn't made progress for 2 terms.

I used to help out with children doing bear necessities, it began again with phonics and practised them every single day, giving them a solid foundation.

get her to make books together with you on the computer, print it out and she reads it back. Also stick photos in a book with a simple text (dd went to see Granny. Granny and dd ate cake. ) etc etc, so photo stories about herself and others. Find books about things she likes (animals? ballet? football?) read them together, you read the hard words and she reads the easy words. Use your library, ours has loads of easy readers.
use every opportunity to decode words in real life context, so at the shop ask her to help you find something and then read the milk, bread cheese from the label, point out signs on shops and so on. Learn to read rude words (wee pooh) and have a secret giggle about it.

What is she interested in?

Get books about that, or write some yourself.